Gentlemen and ladies, start your controllers.
Voting opens today for the “Drive for the Cover” video game campaign, which allows fans to choose which Sprint Cup competitor graces the cover of “NASCAR The Game: Inside Line.”
Through a bracketed tournament, fans can choose one of 32 drivers in the first round on a designated Facebook page accessed through NASCARTheGame.com/vote, which closes on June 10. Sixteen winners from the first round will square off, with voting for the second round ending June 17.
One week after NASCAR’s Elite Eight are chosen, the final four drivers will be chosen, with the final two selected on June 30. Over the following two weeks, fans will be able to vote for the cover boy or girl, with the winner named on July 15.
NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Joey Logano thinks it would be “pretty cool” to be featured on the cover of a video game.
“As a gamer myself, and Game Stop being one of my sponsors, I’ve gotten my fair share of games and plenty of racing games,” Logano said. “I love playing them. Me and my friends still play 'NASCAR The Game' all the time. We have fun with that.
“So, any time a new game comes out, as a driver, you’re excited about it. Excited how it’s going to be and how realistic it’s going to be. I think they did an amazing job last year about how realistic it is and the looks of it and the way the cars drive and how great they can do with that. It’s impressive.
“Obviously, if you can be on the cover of it, I think that’s everyone’s dream. As a child growing up, you wanted to be on the cover of a video game. That’s really cool. That will give us all an opportunity to do that, so I got to get on Twitter, I guess, and get everyone to vote.”
“NASCAR The Game: Inside Line,” created by Activision Publishing and game developer Eutechnyx, will feature top drivers on all 23 officially licensed tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit. “The Game,” which will be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and Wii, will be released on Nov. 6.
“The collaboration between Activision and Eutechnyx produced last year’s hugely successful NASCAR game experience,” said David Oxford, executive vice president, Activision Publishing. “'NASCAR The Game: Inside Line' builds on that platform and adds a number of innovative, cutting-edge features that will give fans and gamers alike the chance to participate in the sport like never before.”
